Tomorrow is Friday. I challenge you to make a post to MetaFilter. Something wonderous and strange. Sensless and ridiclous. Beautiful and fragile. Pointless and arbitrary.

Don't self-censor. Don't pre-censor fearing what the haters will say. It's your site as much as it is theirs. This isn't about improving post quailty, and I don't have a gift certificate for you. This is about having fun and not ceeding MF to the snarkers, bickers and critics.

A good post to MetaFilter is something that meets the following criteria: most people haven't seen it before, there is something interesting about the content on the page, and it might warrant discussion from others.

As a first-time poster or new member of MetaFilter, take a look at the older posts to get a feel for what constitutes a good link. Look at the links that carry 10 or 20 comments to see what everyone is talking about. Is the link you're about to post provocative enough to show to everyone? If so post away.

A good thread values uniqueness over novelty.

All the empahsis is mine. I suspect that a lot of the "Let's Make MetaFilter Fun Again Hooray Happy Puppies Kittens Goofball Mindless Sunshiny Bullshit is Subversive!" posts are going to run into this problem.

The Flickr/song post heads in this direction.posted by gramschmidt at 8:59 AM on August 26, 2005

I suspect that a lot of the "Let's Make MetaFilter Fun Again Hooray Happy Puppies Kittens Goofball Mindless Sunshiny Bullshit is Subversive!" posts are going to run into this problem.

No, let's have more political threads where we fling shit at eachother so we can pretend that we're making a difference.posted by jonmc at 9:03 AM on August 26, 2005

I never said I didn't like mindless sunshiny bullshit. I'm just coldly highlighting the potential logic behind deleting Anus's post.posted by gramschmidt at 9:07 AM on August 26, 2005

No, let's have more political threads where we fling shit at eachother so we can pretend that we're making a difference.

I didn't read that thread, so, no, no comment. I'm responsible for everything any MeChatter does? I'm amberglow's keeper, now?posted by jonmc at 9:13 AM on August 26, 2005

You're the one that made it seem like the MetaChat challenge was going to do the front page a favor. You also made it seem like MetaChat wouldn't post politically charged posts, hence your snarky comment about "wanting more threads where we fling shit at each other". Now I'm pointing to an example of where a MetaChat thread is just that, a poo flinging contest, and you accuse me of calling you amberglow's keeper?posted by SeizeTheDay at 9:18 AM on August 26, 2005

Now I'm pointing to an example of where a MetaChat thread

It's a thread by someone who happens to be a MetaChat member. If it was on behalf of the whole community, I wasn't at the meeting.posted by jonmc at 9:24 AM on August 26, 2005

Look at the tag in the post, jon. "DoIt!"

Anyway, I'm sorry I took this issue this far. I just thought that it was a crappy post, and since this MeTa thread was here, I brought it up.posted by SeizeTheDay at 9:25 AM on August 26, 2005

I don't think "let's make the front page fun again" is a bad idea, but when people are pushed to find stuff to post in a short period of time, there is bound to be some so-so posts.

I didn't see the gorgeous george post, but overall the posts have been pretty good.posted by mathowie(staff) at 9:30 AM on August 26, 2005

I wish I had time to visit MetaChat. It looks fun.posted by sciurus at 9:31 AM on August 26, 2005

I took the DoIt! idea to a poorly executed extreme. Bad plan, for that I apologize to both sites.

I don't think, however, that relating the reason for deletion to MetaChat was a good idea either.posted by If I Had An Anus at 9:36 AM on August 26, 2005

I posted a fun--and funny--post to the front page--not "a politically charged and otherwise vapid post."

It used to be that Fridays were fun around here, full of flash silliness and other lighter fare. I see this initiative as an attempt to bring that back. Flag it or delete it--i think it's a worthwhile post--funny and with a point, too.posted by amberglow at 9:59 AM on August 26, 2005

I flagged it because it was totally incoherent. I flagged the Flickr / Song thingy because it just didn't feel like it belonged in the blue.

One the whole, though, this little passive aggressive DoIt! thing seems to have generated some pretty decent posts, despite the rather shocking vitriol that seems to be at least partially fueling it.posted by dersins at 10:02 AM on August 26, 2005

In retrospect, I'm not sure why I needed an excuse to make a post about pimps.posted by selfnoise at 10:03 AM on August 26, 2005

This thread and that thread and the other thread and the thread talking about all these threads make the flying spaghetti monster dry.posted by loquacious at 10:09 AM on August 26, 2005

Please amberglow. I know you get a free pass around here, but you can't possibly be honest with yourself or this site and maintain that you didn't post a "politically charged" post. Hell, here is your most recent comment in tha thread made just 5 minutes before this one!!!!

other bloggers (rightwing only from what i can see) have just recently started to run stuff from CENTCOM after being approached the way Jesus' General was. I think it's a new initiative from the govt. (related to Karen Hughes' new job maybe?)
posted by amberglow at 9:53 AM PST on August 26

That comment is clearly politcally charged. You throw out the buzz words of "rightwing" and "Karen Hughes." You label CENTCOM's publications as "propaganda" in the original post. You use the tag "clueless." It is clearly politically charged.

Yet here you are refuting it. That leaves me two explanations:
1. You are unwilling or incapable of being upfront and honest about your posts.
2. You see the world in such a politicized binary view of Us/Them that you don't recognize that you post is politically charged. The former is depressing and frustrating; the latter is plain frightening.posted by dios at 10:10 AM on August 26, 2005

If the monster is dry, I have red sauce.posted by selfnoise at 10:13 AM on August 26, 2005

One time when I was in high school, my friends and I decided to crash a stranger's halloween party with paper shopping bags over our heads. We walked through the party with the bags on our heads and thought we were hilarious, but judging by the reactions of those actually attending the party, we were just dumb.posted by tpl1212 at 10:14 AM on August 26, 2005

Just because a post is inspired by metachat or is some sort of secret metachat initiative (this is why I never joined metachat, because I suspect their real motives have nothing to do with 'chat' and more to do with the rising price of oil, Hurricane Katrina, and experiments in group psychology) ... is no reason to delete it. Bad call on mathowie's part. Still, that post wasn't terribly interesting anyways so it's not a major loss.posted by nixerman at 10:16 AM on August 26, 2005

Also, this "DoIt!" tag resembles the uproar we had over the freequonsar tag or whatever it was that was used by some people from a different off-site community. I seem to remember a deletion of that tag and some discussion about the propriety of such things. Unfortunately, I don't recall the event very well, but I'm sure there is some overlapping discussion point. Maybe someone can help me out here.posted by dios at 10:24 AM on August 26, 2005

As a I really feel like I can speak to and I'm not just saying because when you look at you can see that all of the fuss about is simply displaced and therefore not worth the.posted by OmieWise at 10:27 AM on August 26, 2005

In here somewhere is a "then the metachatters have won!" punchline.posted by mischief at 10:39 AM on August 26, 2005

"Red sauce"? You mean the blood of a thousand anointed virgins, right?

BRING ME THE HEAD OF... lettuce. And a crusty loaf and some garlic and butter.posted by loquacious at 10:40 AM on August 26, 2005

That sort of thing will not be tolerated. Or it will, but only in small doses.posted by OmieWise at 10:47 AM on August 26, 2005

I pretty much ignored the "pointless and arbitrary" suggestion and just took the DoIt! challenge as a goal to return some light-heartedness to MetaFilter. There's certainly no harm in that.posted by me3dia at 12:02 PM on August 26, 2005

dios: if you had actually read the thread, you would have seen that my comment you quoted was specifically in response to the question asked immediately above it. A simple google search would have shown you that what i said was truth, and so far Jesus' General is the only liberal or leftwing blogger contacted in this manner and that's only because of an amazingly clueless CENTCOM officer. You would have heard about it plenty if any others not supporting this war had been contacted as he was.

It's funny alright. A blog whose raison d'etre is to parody the right gets mistaken for a rightwing blog. It's like if Pat Robertson would try to recruit Betty Bowers. : >posted by amberglow at 12:02 PM on August 26, 2005

the only thing funnier would be some Radical Queer Asian group trying to recruit Michelle Malkin for something.posted by amberglow at 12:11 PM on August 26, 2005

I don't think, however, that relating the reason for deletion to MetaChat was a good idea either.

I thought it helped answer all the WTF questions about why the thread existed in the first place which people seemed to be asking. Sorry if it outed the DoIt! challenge. I thought it was clear by everyone's tags that there was a campaign going on and I didn't think it was a secret.

The bulk of the rest of the MetaChat contributions today were fun and interesting, but this morning it was unclear if the trend was going to be "pointless and arbitrary" [usually not good FPP material] or "...wonderous and strange. Sensless and ridiclous. Beautiful and fragile."posted by jessamyn at 1:13 PM on August 26, 2005

This is my first post while drunk. I am traveling around my neighborhood in search of the perfect pint of Guinness. I need to pace myself. Three an hour is a bit fast. At least I can walk to all the bars. Am I doing this right or am I supposed to insult someone?posted by sciurus at 4:28 PM on August 26, 2005

Isn't the whole point of MetaChat that it isn't MeFi? Everything goes there because it isn't MeFi. The MeFi rules don't apply because it isn't MeFi. What's the point of going there, gathering everyone up, and dragging them to MeFi?posted by scarabic at 5:41 PM on August 26, 2005

Because this place hasn't been fun enough lately?posted by amberglow at 6:11 PM on August 26, 2005

Because this place hasn't been fun enough lately?

To whom...a select few people who use MetaChat? If there was a MeTa thread with dozens of MeFites claiming that this place hasn't been fun, I'd agree with you. But a few MetaChat folks does not constitute a significant population around here.

What bothers me is that a group of people hanging out a site not directly associated with MetaFilter who take it upon themselves to change this place sets a terrible precedent. What I liked about 9622.net is that they had their fun without dragging stuff back to the Blue.

And the reason anastasiav's idea was great was because her plan was brought to Metatalk and discusssed by MeFites; a consensus was found and it turned out to be a great idea. What "DoIt" represented was a couple of eager people who banded together to "make a difference". The former was acceptable because MeFites had a chance to weigh in; the latter was vigilantism (albeit in a good spirit).posted by SeizeTheDay at 6:55 PM on August 26, 2005

It was presented three days in advance to MetaTalk; which gave MeFites the opportunity to weigh in and, if necessary, say "no thanks". It was a great idea so it didn't face any opposition. Had you guys brought your idea to MeTa, I'd imagine that you'd receive similar encouragement. Instead, you took it upon yourselves to "change MeFi". Again, we're splitting hairs because it was done with good intentions and had some good results; but, to me, it felt like vigilantism.

BTW, I saw a whole lot of resentment against the site and Matt there as well; who is to say if those people didn't get together and make some noise?posted by SeizeTheDay at 7:58 PM on August 26, 2005

What bothers me is that a group of people hanging out a site not directly associated with MetaFilter

Wait, what? MeCha only exists because it was asked for. By MetaFilter users. Perhaps also by Matt's request. There's maybe one or two or three ex-MeFi members there, the rest are active here. Are you high? Dude, share. It's Friday, man. Puff, puff, pass.posted by loquacious at 8:00 PM on August 26, 2005

It used to be that Fridays were fun around here, full of flash silliness and other lighter fare.

You are all powerless against the Metachat offensive. Kneel and kiss the bunny!posted by LarryC at 9:11 PM on August 26, 2005

amberglow, of course it was funny, and of course a lot of the humor was in the blog and its singular voice. But that doesn't mean it wasn't also political. I mean, you're not seriously sitting here and saying it wasn't a political post...? Come on.posted by soyjoy at 9:22 PM on August 26, 2005

Because this place hasn't been fun enough lately?

Once again, isn't MetaChat the solution to that problem? I thought that people who were into it went there for that reason? Is it time for the chickens/cows to come home?posted by scarabic at 11:13 PM on August 26, 2005

MetaChat is chatty. Mefi isn't, and isn't supposed to be. That's pretty much it. MeCha is working quite well to support the very real demand from the mefi community for a more chatty forum. I think it functions quite well alongside metafilter. Indeed, Matt would do well to consider pulling it within the aegis of mefi. At this point, I'm inclined to think the same about a "NewsFilter". Anyway, the point is that mecha isn't mefi (or meta) and those who are confused on this point ought not be. I see confusion from both sides because, of course, just as a good number of people think that metafilter really and truly is newsfilter, there's a good number of people who think metafilter really and truly is a web-based chat bulletin board.posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:31 PM on August 26, 2005

Yes, exactly. Metachat is there for being silly, chatting, asking questions that don't belong on AskMe, posting sites that might be doubles or too thin for MeFi, getting an opinion about a post (some nice things get posted there, and then the poster is often urged to post it in the blue), talking about your bad day, and often, just being completely zany. Basically it's just to relax and fool around, and in that way, I think it can be helpful by providing a space for members to play without sidetracking MeFi, MeTa and Ask.

The fun Friday links drive wasn't a bad idea, though - but posts for that still needed to meet the regular MeFi criteria. Too bad mine turned out to be a double :(posted by taz at 12:11 AM on August 27, 2005

Sorry Metafilter, but sometimes the fun will just spill out back onto here. We can't help it. Like Monkey, the nature of metachat is irrepressible.

Metafilter is still here, You're still allowed to continue posting your whiny liberal newfilter stuff. As for this idea that somehow the DoIt! tag was a call to arms. It wasn't. It was just a bit of fun and a way we could monitor (or, if you will - tag) which posts were fun posts from metachatarians.

BTW, I saw a whole lot of resentment against the site and Matt there as well
You'll see that in metatalk as well buddy. We bitch because we care and we get frustrated and we're people. IT DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING. F.Y.I. Matt will not be the first against the wall when the revolution comes. Mr, I know what my name is in Latin.

scarabic:Once again, isn't MetaChat the solution to that problem? I thought that people who were into it went there for that reason?"

I was under the impression that MetaChat was the solution to the issue of some people wanting to chat, but not having a place to do so. The fact that MetaChat can be fun was just a happy side-effect, not it's raison de etre.posted by Bugbread at 1:13 AM on August 27, 2005

you know that saying about the rats that jump off the ship as it starts to sink?

Yeah, i'm one of those rats. See you in hell, fuckers.posted by puke & cry at 1:20 AM on August 27, 2005

I hear owls outside. It's almost four in the morning and I can not sleep and I hear owls. OWLS. They are not what they seem.posted by weretable and the undead chairs at 1:38 AM on August 27, 2005

That gum you like is going to come back in style.posted by Bugbread at 2:08 AM on August 27, 2005

Is this thread still going on? Crikey.

I must confess I was a little worried when Capn proposed his little challenge, but you know what? I think it's turned out just dandy and there's now a few fun links on the front page. Everyone wins!

One of the things I appreciate about Capn's challenege is this: I wouldn't have posted my Half Man Half Biscuit post if he hadn't suggested this. I think it's a good site with much to enjoy but ordinarily I think it would've been shot down in flames. Well, it looks like it was pretty popular.

That does make me wonder though - how much cool stuff are we missing because people around here are too damn prickly? There's a perception that posting links here is often more trouble than it's worth - that can't be healthy can it?

Are we, by trying to maintain a (supposedly) high standard, actually causing the quality of posts to drop?

Hey, look it's early here and I'm probably just talking shit but these are just questions that popped into my head right now. I ask because I care.posted by dodgygeezer at 2:08 AM on August 27, 2005

dodgygeezer:"That does make me wonder though - how much cool stuff are we missing because people around here are too damn prickly?"

My guess is that we're missing a lot of cool stuff, and a lot of crap. Being less prickly would result in an increase in cool, but a decrease in the signal/noise ratio. Which is better is a tough call ("Which is more important to you, the picking up of cool stuff, or the filtering of the web?")posted by Bugbread at 2:11 AM on August 27, 2005

half shark half alligator half man!

i'm jumping ship with puke&cry with whom i share too much right now....posted by schyler523 at 3:13 AM on August 27, 2005

Indeed, Matt would do well to consider pulling it within the aegis of mefi.
It may surprise you to find out that Matt does not own MetaChat and, in the unlikely event that he were to decide to do this, he may face some problems.posted by dg at 5:10 AM on August 27, 2005

I assumed the primary problem he'd face would be the task of asking nicely.posted by Ethereal Bligh at 5:18 AM on August 27, 2005

I'm not drunk anymore. I did just take a dump the color of a Guinness though. Actually, maybe I am still drunk...posted by sciurus at 6:49 AM on August 27, 2005

Yes, amberglow, it was funny AND political, but don't we have Jon Stewart for that?

And by making a political funny, didn't you violate the rules of DoIt requiring Pointless and arbitrary? Not to mention sensless and ridiclous and non-spellchecked?posted by wendell at 11:09 AM on August 27, 2005

nah, it was pointless and senseless and ridiculous for the CENTCOM guy to contact Jesus' General, and an arbitrary form email sent to bloggers that the guy thought were amenable to spreading their propaganda. : >posted by amberglow at 11:21 AM on August 27, 2005

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MetaTalk is the first spin-off subsite of MetaFilter and is designed as a space to talk about MetaFilter itself. MetaTalk is the place to discuss features, bugs, and issues of policy with the rest of the membership.